Reign of the Dark Batmen

I’m kinda excited about this. Maybe it’s pure gimmickry but I dunno, it looks to have the potential to be awesome. There are going to be seven–that’s SEVEN–parallel universe versions of Batman–but they’re each and every one EVIL! We haven’t seen what they’re gonna look like yet, just shadowy outlines. But those outlines look sweet! There’s going to be a Batman with a Green Lantern ring (In brightest day, in darkest knight…?) called “The Dawnbreaker,” and a Batman who has The Flash’s powers called “The Red Death.” (Personally I wish they’d named him “The Red-Hooded Death.”) The Cyborg Batman is called “Murder Machine,” the Batman with Wonder Woman’s powers is called “The Merciless,” and the aqua-Bat-man is going to be called “The Drowned.” Hey, I’m detecting a theme, here. There’s an evil Batman for each of the primary members of the Justice League! Except…where is the Super-Batman? That one could be called “The Bat of Steel” or “The Bat of Tomorrow.” We are gonna get some joker called “The Batman who Laughs,” though. (See what I did there?)

All the Evil Batmans/Batmen are going to get one-shots in September. Will you be reading them? Which one sounds the coolest to you? Me, I’m going for the last one on the list. Remember when Prince combined himself with Batman and the Joker in the video for “Batdance”? I’m betting this will be even cooler than that. I wouldn’t expect the Joker-Batman to sing, though, or be able to bust a high note without bustin’ a string.